When Kevin Lyman says his plate is full, he likes to heap on two more servings of busy anyway.

The veteran concert producer works year-round on his annual punk-rock-and-more festival the Vans Warped Tour (which kicks off its 16th edition June 25 at Home Depot Center in Carson) as well as a few other successful traveling events, including the Taste of Chaos and Mayhem shows.

That has established his credentials in the rock and metal world. But after helping create 2002's O Brother, Where Art Thou?-inspired Down from the Mountain package -- spotlighting country and bluegrass artists who performed on the Grammy-winning soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film from two years earlier -- Lyman says he started to toy with the idea of a national touring country festival, one built out of the same concepts that worked so well for Warped Tour: multiple stages and activities, big-name sponsors, strong headliners mixed with up-and-coming or lesser-known acts, and affordable ticket prices.

Constantly on the go, he wound up roped into other endeavors -- but the notion of a country bash stuck in his mind until two years ago, when, inspired by the audience he saw at the annual Stagecoach weekend in Indio, Lyman decided now was the perfect time to bring the idea to life.

“There were so many different types of people,” he recalls of his time at Stagecoach '08, “and I couldn't stop thinking that like 40 percent of that crowd looked like they could have been at Warped Tour. I saw a lot of people walking around in traditional country gear -- a cowboy hat and jeans -- but a lot of them were running around in Hurley and Volcom shirts and DC shoes.”

So Lyman took his idea to Nashville, and after several months of negotiations and meetings with labels and artists, Country Throwdown was a go.

Though the tour has suffered from poor ticket sales in some markets, leading to cancellations in Phoenix and San Diego, Lyman nonetheless has pulled together a solid lineup for his inaugural outing, which arrives Saturday at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine.

Nailing down the main acts was a challenge, Lyman says. Many doors were slammed in his face by skeptics unwilling to take a chance on a guy who produced punk rock events. But once he found the right artists -- namely Montgomery Gentry -- who were willing to take a leap of faith on this tour, the rest of the bill fell into place.

“Those guys are as punk and metal as anyone,” Lyman says of the rowdy duo that has been known to walk on stage to the sound of Ozzy Osbourne's “Crazy Train.” “They jumped on board with this and wanted to bring some of these other acts with them.

“It's been fun to get Jamey Johnson on the tour, too. Someone said: ‘Are you worried about working with him? He's kind of a badass.' Are you kidding? I've been working with that for years! I worked with Social D -- they were pretty rebel, too.”

Lyman's vision was also inspired by the famous Bluebird Café in Nashville. For almost 30 years the intimate, 100-seat venue has been home to numerous songwriters who showcase material they've written for countless country stars, most of whom have gone on to sell millions of records with chart-topping hits.

Thus, much of the magic of this tour, says Little Big Town vocalist Kimberly Schlapman, is that people will be able to see the “heroes behind the hits.”

“I had never really thought about who wrote a song until I went into a club and heard some guy I didn't know (Don Schlitz) sing ‘The Gambler,'” she recalled during a phone interview from Ohio just before the tour entered its second weekend. “I was really young and I just remember being like, ‘Holy cow, I can't believe Kenny Rogers didn't write that song.' It's cool to see where these songs really came from, what they mean and how they came about.”

Schlapman, the curly-maned blonde in the group (pictured), says that the first weekend of the tour was a blast and that the quartet is proud to be taking part in such a risky new venture.

“Kudos to Kevin,” she says. “Country music -- especially in the last few years, with artists like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood -- has really hit the masses, and the fact that Kevin wanted to be a part of that, help spread it all around, that's pretty cool. He's been so successful in running tours, making things happen -- and this so far has been smooth and so much fun. We're being treated so well, too. I think this tour is going to take off.”

Of course, that was before dates had to be scrubbed, although that may have been less a reflection of the moderately-priced Country Throwdown itself than of the still-sagging economy. Several other tours, including Christina Aguilera's next tour and Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Tour revival, have been reduced in scope or scrapped altogether, while many events have seen sharp declines in attendance. People just aren't buying tickets this summer.

But Country Throwdown has some added appeal: Little Big Town, for starters, is taking part in the tour's main promotion, giving couples the chance to be married at the show in what's called the Little White Church -- a play off the group's latest radio hit of the same name. Through various radio stations, engaged couples have been entering to win full-on wedding ceremonies on stops of this tour, with an ordained minister conducting the ceremony and Little Big Town serving as witnesses.

“I get so excited about that,” Schlapman says. “We are so close to our fans and this is just another chance for us to meet more of them and be involved. We're going to be in a few wedding photos on this tour, and I thought about that when I was packing … I want to dress nice if I'm going to be in people's wedding photos!”

She says there's also been quite a bit of songwriting going on backstage -- now that the initial partying is getting out of everyone's system.

“It's going to happen when you get this many of us together and we're all friends,” she says. “I'm sure as the tour goes on there will be a lot more songs coming out of this.”

Photo of Montgomery Gentry, from the 45th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in April, by Ethan Miller, Getty Images. Little Big Town pic by James Minchin III.

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